The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible is a strategic board game set in 16th-century Russia, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
Players take on the roles of influential noble families competing for power, prestige, and the Tsar’s favor. The goal is to become the most powerful family in the country—perhaps even the next ruler.
The game spans roughly 40 years of Ivan’s rule (divided into four decades), during which players:
- build cities,
- gather resources,
- conduct trade,
- carry out military actions,
- and manipulate the royal court.
It is a medium-weight euro game. Players send their boyars—noble families—to various action spaces in the Kremlin. Using money, they can “bribe” officials to gain stronger actions. Players compete for control of regions on the map, collect and convert resources (grain, wood, stone), move soldiers, construct buildings, and expand their influence.
An important element is also:
the Tsar’s favor (Tsar’s favor), which acts as a tiebreaker and provides a tactical advantage.
It is a tense strategic game about influence, ambition, and political maneuvering in the time of Ivan the Terrible, rewarding thoughtful planning and bold tactics 👑
